The State Of Our Open Threads: After Michigan State
It is time once again to revisit the state of our open threads and look at our expression of our passion for the University of Michigan and its football team.
It may come as a surprise to some that this week's Open Threads for the MSU game were comparatively tame. Perhaps that is because of altered expectations for the season or this game, but there were only 304 instances of swearing or calls for firing along the tracked words / phrases, which is about 30% of Penn State thread totals and still doesn't even beat out Akron or UConn in raw terms.
Yet again, we showed a clear preference for "fuck" during this game, which accounted for 107 of 304 isntances or 35.2% of the total. We are also clearly developing a preference for the interjection "fuck" and the adjective "fucking", as these were the overwhelming majority of the uses. However, when you look at the use of "fuck" during this game, it is actually not impressive relatively speaking - that honor belongs to something else, something which is indeed a major component of the Snowflake discussion in the last 12 hours or so. That would be references to firing people, or our "fire" metric.
First, let me show everyone the season-to-date summary:
| TOTAL | AVERAGE | STD. DEV. | % OF TOTAL | |
| "fuck" | 1206 | 150.75 | 165.01 | 48.38% |
| "shit" | 302 | 37.75 | 21.02 | 12.11% |
| "damn" | 302 | 37.75 | 49.30 | 12.11% |
| "fire" | 119 | 14.88 | 15.11 | 4.77% |
| "suck" | 338 | 42.25 | 35.62 | 13.56% |
| "ass" | 155 | 19.38 | 26.21 | 6.22% |
| "put in Morris" | 71 | 8.88 | 13.02 | 2.85% |
What is significant here is that, for the first time, "fuck" is less than half of the cumulative total. Further, the mix of "shit", "damn" and "suck" is becoming fairly even, so it seems that we are mixing it up a little more and that is definitely nice to see.
Here is how the swearing / calls for firing compares across other games:
So, as you can see here, the Penn State game, possibly due to expectations, is still our watershed moment this season. Here are the normalized values for the season:
Again, once the season is over, the full report will add a layer to this and normalize against thread size as well so we can get a better view of the mood of the season. What you can see here, however, is that references to firing someone were far above average. You likely only need to go as far as the Coaching Snowflake thread to see how people feel, but this is evidence of that. Every other metric was within earshot of season means.
So, there it is for now, folks - clearly, people wanted to let the staff have it this time and we didn't even cuss all that much compared to other games.
November 3rd, 2013 at 7:09 AM ^
It looks like we're going to redshirt "crap."
November 3rd, 2013 at 7:11 AM ^
If I have some time this week, I might wander down to the practice field - we've got "crap" on the practice squad and we might need to use "crap" late this season.
November 3rd, 2013 at 7:28 AM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 7:44 AM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 7:38 AM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 7:41 AM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 8:01 AM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 8:28 AM ^
a distinctive lack of "assclown," what I believe to a classic. It does not bring the blunt force of say "fat fucker," but it really can be effective ln labeling somebody or something that is utterly ridculous, ie "I was seriously an assclown to believe that we had any chance to win that game."
November 3rd, 2013 at 8:28 AM ^
"...and we didn't even cuss all that much compared to other games..."
Cussing volume probably reflects where fans are on the Kubler-Ross grieving scale:
Denial (Akron)
Anger (UConn)
Bargaining (PSU)
Depression (MSU)
and
Acceptance (MSU, Nebraska, NW, Iowa and OSU)
November 3rd, 2013 at 8:34 AM ^
I've been trying to refrain from using profanity in my posts. Even the most insightful posts come off as unintelligent jibber jabber when profanity gets added in.
I suppose I should apologize to you LSA, for calling your snowflake threads crappy. It's times like these when the board needs to be policed.
November 3rd, 2013 at 8:52 AM ^
I don't take that personally - it's purely an attempt at keeping the board at least somewhat readable (somewhat being key there). Some folks are not fans of the system, but it seems to help drive board behavior enough that it is beneficial to the group.
November 3rd, 2013 at 8:51 AM ^
I have done so many drugs in the last 12 hours.......... my sponser is gonna hate me.
November 3rd, 2013 at 8:56 AM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 9:14 AM ^
As the keeper of the data, I should be clear and say that obviously they aren't particularly useful, except when they appear in nationally read columns like TWIS. If we can't laugh at ourselves, however, then what can we laught at? Well, that's what TWIS is for as well.
November 3rd, 2013 at 9:13 AM ^
Actually, all kidding aside, this kind of data mining is pretty interesting. LSA, if you have any stomach for this at all, is it possible to verify that PSU 2010 was the watershed moment for RR in terms of people calling for his firing?
I ask b/c I noticed that PSU this year seems to have engendered the most rage and MSU seems to have engendered the most firing talk, at least relative to the overall rage-ness of the threads (see normalized values chart).
It would also be interesting to compare the fan rage, controlling for number of board posts or something, directed at RR vs. Hoke et al. Though perhaps that would be somewhat tainted by the increase in MGoBlog popularity, and therefore potential heterogeneity of the posters, over time. I guess you could use a direct standardization method. Are you perchance a formal demographer?
November 3rd, 2013 at 9:19 AM ^
As I get deeper into this, I actually have thought about going back to, say, 2009 and do a relatively complete history for this subject. If I ever embark on that, I would be willing to bet (because I think I even broke down during the 2010 PSU game) that it might be the defining moment for that year if not that coaching staff when it comes to dissatisfaction. You may be right there.
As for what I am, I supervise people who do distribution design work, so I deal with a lot of engineering / productivity / financial data on a daily basis. A demographer of workload, in a way.
November 3rd, 2013 at 9:25 AM ^
Now that's how you put together a thread. Wish I was as creative.
November 3rd, 2013 at 9:48 AM ^
This is hilarious. I know I was good for a legit F'ing (the actual word as I type how I speak, don't believe in backspace and that is what I was thinking/would have said is audibly saying it to someone).
I don't filter what I say, I guess. Better way to put it as everyone types how they speak, lol.
This cracked me up.
November 3rd, 2013 at 10:37 AM ^
Do you include words used in signature blocks? I've noticed a number of people sign their posts fire [fill in name of a villian] or f[ornicate with] Ohio State. Just curious.
November 3rd, 2013 at 11:51 AM ^
Those are removed from the count actually. I focus solely on the comments made. That being said, it is a good way to find inappropriate signature lines.
November 3rd, 2013 at 10:40 AM ^
Purdue lost to msu on the same field by 14 pts.
Michigan was body slammed by MSU by 23 pts
Ohio just sandblasted Purdue 56-0.
Not out of realm of possibility that Urban scores 71 on Michigan and goes for 2pts on the last td
November 3rd, 2013 at 11:19 AM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 10:43 AM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 12:07 PM ^
I'd like to see more use of "RATS!" on here. But please ban anyone who uses "gosh darn" or "oh dear" as those are just too fey.
November 3rd, 2013 at 12:45 PM ^
November 3rd, 2013 at 1:05 PM ^
Apathy is beginning to hit. Realization that not only this squad but the 2014 version with an even younger OL, no Fitz, no Gallon and @ND @MSU @OSU and home at Utah along with our normal hijinks versus very average teams is leading to another 3-5 loss season ahead... and most likely looking light years away from OSU again.
November 3rd, 2013 at 6:29 PM ^
Directly beneath the player name on his jersey is written and to remain there until they beat MSU,
LITTLE SISTER
Sadly that is what they are and Hoke is all about symbolism i.e. not wear headphones, cap or jacket hoping to convey the message I and my team are tough.